day : 08/11/2009 8 results

Listening to the scanner on Saturday night, we heard a call for firefighters to check out smoke at the Rainier Yacht Club, and thought, “Isn’t that where the Westenders are having ‘Operation Chano’?” Didn’t hear the followup and forgot about it – till Nicky Ducommun e-mailed tonight to share the event wrapup, with Fuzz Hill‘s photos:

The Westenders Scooter Club’s “Operation Chano” was a great success! Our friend and fellow scooterist, Sean “Chano” Goff, co-owner with wife Sofia of West Seattle’s Cafe Revo, passed away unexpectedly September 17. Operation Chano was launched to raise money to help his family in a time of great need.

For the event Saturday night, our chefs, Corey & Gus were truly the lords of the kitchen, and put out a feast that had attendees going through the buffet line for seconds — and even thirds!! We had so many prizes in the raffle that even with the Westenders Prize Patrol ‘bundling’ prizes into prize packs, it took almost as long to give away the prizes as it did to watch our scooter-themed movie, “Mondo Scooterama”!

One event that caused particular mirth was the unscheduled appearance of the Seattle Fire Department. We had so many pots of water boiling in the kitchen for pasta, that an alert neighbor mistook the fogged up windows and steam escaping from the galley of the Rainier Yacht Club for smoke. The Seattle Fire Department was called and we were all reminded of why firefighter calendars are so popular. The extremely handsome, strapping men who arrived in two fire engines were wonderful, even giving all the children in attendance a tour of their trucks.

We had 50+ guests, and were pleased that about half were non-Westenders. Several clubs were well represented, particularly the Flying Monkeys SC and the F*** Yeah SC from Tacoma.

And this was a generous lot as well! On Sunday, a group of us rode out to Cafe Revo to present them with the proceeds!

Thanks again to everyone who gave so much of their time and resources to make this event a success!

Westenders Scooter Club

This was the second of two fundraisers for the Goff family; the first one was “Big Night” last month at The Sanctuary at Admiral (WSB coverage here). Chef Goff died in late September at age 43; Cafe Revo (a WSB sponsor), however, carries on, with his wife Sofia and its ace staff at the helm, serving the cuisine of Northern Italy in the Luna Park business district.

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Edible gardening in West Seattle: Want to see Tilth classes here?

November 8, 2009 7:48 pm

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| Gardening | West Seattle news

With interest in edible gardening growing like mad, Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle, sponsors of the West Seattle Edible Garden Fair and Edible Garden Tour (among other things), is looking tonight for your opinion: They’re exploring partnering with Seattle Tilth to offer some classes in West Seattle next year. Aviva from Community Harvest says, “The location would be at the St. James Annex, close to Westwood Village (map). The Community and Food Bank Garden which is forming at this location would provide the space for hands-on learning. In addition to Tilth classes, there is a possibility for classes in food preservation, cooking, and fruit-tree care.” Take a quick survey to let them know if you’d be interested: Go here.

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Video: First Fauntleroy Creek coho sighting of the season

November 8, 2009 2:49 pm

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| Fauntleroy | West Seattle news | Wildlife

(Video added 5:15 pm)
Exactly two weeks after more than 60 people gathered at Fauntleroy Creek to drum and sing in the annual ceremony calling the coho home, creek steward Judy Pickens says the first one’s shown up: “The first pair were sighted at about 1:00 this afternoon and we thought we heard another one coming.” Volunteers are watching the creek in the hours after high tide daily, and were scheduled to do so till late November. Whenever coho are known to be in the creek, the “salmon sock” shown in the photo below will be up on its pole at the creek overlook across Fauntleroy Way (and up the embankment) from the ferry dock.

(WSB photo from Fauntleroy Creek overlook, 10/25/09)
ADDED 9:58 PM: The official account from Dennis Hinton:

The first coho spawners to return to Fauntleroy Creek were spotted at 1 pm Sunday by Steve Zarnick and family.

Between 3 and 4 pm Judy, Phil, Patrick and I counted six coho in the creek. All fish were estimated between two and five pounds. The largest was a bright red-sided hooked-nosed male, about five pounds.

Usual window for the coho return over the past 10 years has been between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Recent rains and high tides have probably given the fish the push they need to get up the creek.

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Big downtown parade to feature 2 West Seattle schools’ bands

November 8, 2009 2:20 pm

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| Holidays | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

That clip from our West Seattle Grand Parade video this past July includes the Denny (now International) Middle School Marching Band – and this weekend we have word that Denny’s band will march with Chief Sealth High School‘s band (also directed by Marcus Pimpleton) in the Macy’s Holiday Parade downtown the day after Thanksgiving. They’re among more than two dozen marching bands and community drill teams in the parade, according to a news release. The parade starts at 8:45 am on Friday, Nov. 27, at 7th/Pine and travels a zigzag route through the center of downtown; it’ll also be the final parade for West Seattleite Greg Nickels as Mayor. (If you know of West Seattleites participating in the many other groups in the parade, let us know – editor@westseattleblog.com – so we can mention them here as well as watching for them for photo/video ops while covering the parade; thanks!)

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West Seattle scene: Young & young-at-heart share a smile

November 8, 2009 11:11 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | White Center

Holy Family Parish School middle-school teacher M. Barrett Miller e-mailed to share this photo, explaining: “One of our outreach programs is taking our Middle School students to the West Seattle Salvation Army to socialize and serve the elderly. I rotate the grades every couple of weeks to give all our Middle School students the opportunity to interact with the elderly at the center. Every day the Salvation Army serves lunch and offers an atmosphere of warmth and friendship to those who partake. Over the last year, our students have built a strong relationship with some of the attendees. I think the attached photo shows the joy of the program.” (The West Seattle/White Center Salvation Army location is here.)

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Drawing a line: West Seattle parents air school-boundary concerns

November 8, 2009 6:30 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“You’re taking something that’s actually working and breaking it.”

That critique of the latest proposed Seattle Public Schools attendance-area maps came from one of the two dozen-plus people who attended School Board rep Steve Sundquist‘s community meeting Saturday afternoon at High Point Library.

Sundquist has this type of meeting monthly, as do other members, with no agenda except Q/A with whomever shows up, but he’s made them more frequent as the board approaches a scheduled vote on the attendance maps (and in fact his next one is just hours before that vote).

Several in the room Saturday afternoon wanted to discuss the concern reported here Friday night – the observation that the newest revision to the West Seattle attendance-areas map seems to draw a sharp line largely following West Seattle’s north-south economic divide, with the feeder-school list for Denny International Middle School and Chief Sealth High School dominated by those with more students from lower-income families, while the feeder-school list for Madison Middle School and West Seattle High School is dominated by those with more students from higher-income families.

And another major concern emerged:

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Today: West Seattle Farmers’ Market – with a contest!

November 8, 2009 6:07 am

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| West Seattle Farmers' Market | West Seattle news

Sunday, 10 am-2 pm, 44th/Alaska, as always, growers, ranchers, farmers, food-makers from around Western Washington gather to offer you their best at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market. When you go today, check out the info table to find out more about a contest that market managers have cooked up: They’re looking for the best Thanksgiving feast made with as many Farmers’ Market (WS, U-District or Broadway) ingredients as possible – with you sending your photos and recipes after you’ve prepared and enjoyed the holiday meal on Nov. 26. The contest rules are explained here. Grand prize: Brasa’s Chef Tamara Murphy comes to your place to cook for you and guests; 2nd place includes a $100 Farmers’ Market shopping spree.

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High school football: Ferndale over West Seattle, 28-21

November 8, 2009 3:32 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | WS & Sports

Once again this fall, for the West Seattle High School Wildcats, the varsity-football season all came down to a faceoff with Ferndale, on the road, in Bellingham. WSHS led at halftime last night but came out on the short end, 28-21. We didn’t make the road trip this time; here’s the Bellingham Herald‘s game report.

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